Hello, Love You, Goodbye
by Mistress Aya
Summary: Ryo dreams of a beautiful, mysterious girl with a silver crescent moon on her forehead. He thinks nothing of the dream though, until one day he and the Ronin Warriors encounter a strange, mute girl with amnesia who turns their world upside down.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"_Ryo…Ryo…"_

_Ryo opened his eyes. He slowly sat up as he looked around, taking in his surroundings. He was sitting on the ground of a beautiful kingdom made of crystal. A galaxy of stars surrounded the kingdom. It was like no other place he had ever seen before._

"_Where am I?" he murmured._

"_Ryo," the voice called to him again. _

_He looked up and caught the gaze of a beautiful girl standing before him. Dressed in all white with a silver moon on her forehead, she had the most amazing blue eyes, other than his own, that he had ever seen. He gazed into them like pools of water, as sparkly blue as the ocean. _

_She extended an arm to him._

_Ryo slowly reached for her hand, but before he could grasp it…_

Ryo shot up in bed. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead and along his bare chest and back. He ran a hand through his black hair. It was just a dream. But it felt so real.

Ryo fell back down onto his pillow. He closed his eyes. All he could see was her blue eyes staring back at him again. Who was the mysterious girl, and how did she know him? Would he ever see her again?

After a minute or two, he slowly drifted back to sleep.


	2. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

**Chapter 1- The Girl Who Fell From the Sky**

"Lovely day out, isn't it?"

Ryo nodded his head in agreement with Makiyo as he rowed their boat down the lake.

It was a mildly sunny afternoon. Not too hot, but perfect weather for a day out.

In fact, Makiyo was the one who suggested they go out on the lake. She loved nature, as he had noticed. And aside from being very easy to talk to, she made him feel comfortable unlike most girls. This was a good thing, because Ryo wasn't exactly the most charming person to talk to. In fact, he felt awkward in most social situations. If it wasn't for being prodded by his friends Sage, Kento, Rowen, and Cye, he would have never gone out with Makiyo who first asked him out after meeting at a mall two weeks ago.

"Oh, I love it out here," Makiyo said. "It's beautiful, peaceful, and serene."

Ryo looked up at the clear blue sky and noticed a flock of birds flying overhead. He stared at them for the longest time.

"What are you thinking?" Makiyo finally asked him.

Ryo looked down at her. "Uh…" he scratched the back of his head, feeling a little uneasy about her question. "Nothing," he said grabbing both oars as he continued to row. "Look, there's a black-crowned night heron," he said, pointing at a bird by the lake.

"I know you well enough to know that something's on your mind, when you change the subject," Makiyo said with a smile.

Ryo stared at her for a moment. "Really? So, I'm that obvious, huh?"

Makiyo nodded.

"Well, then I sincerely apologize for changing the subject," he said with a wry smile. "I was just thinking…" he began.

The truth was Ryo couldn't shake this weird feeling he kept having that something was going to happen. What it was, he did not know. He didn't know how to tell Makiyo and the rest of his friends about it. What was he supposed to say? They had defeated Talpa, the evil emperor of the Dynasty realm, and all their other enemies. Would he tell them that something else was coming?

"What is it?" Makiyo asked.

Ryo looked down at Makiyo. He opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly he looked up and noticed something.

"Do you see that?" he pointed towards the sky.

"See what?" Makiyo asked.

"That," he said turning Makiyo in the direction of the phenomenon he saw.

They both looked up and saw what looked like a bright ball of light coming down from the sky east of the lake. Was it a comet, or, a shooting star? What could it have been?

The object finally landed near the forest, causing a loud explosion. Birds and animals everywhere began to fly and run away startled by the sound the object made when it landed.

Makiyo turned toward Ryo. "What was that?" she asked him. Her eyes widened with fear. She was obviously shaken up from what just occurred.

"I don't know," Ryo said. He was just as confounded as she was. "But I'm going to find out." He gripped both oars and rowed the boat they were in toward the edge of the lake. Once they made it, he hurriedly got out.

"Ryo, wait!" Makiyo called after him.

"Stay here," he told her. "It could be dangerous."

"Be careful!" She told him.

Ryo ignored her plea as he quickly ran towards the forest. He was the type to always run head first into a situation before analyzing it. This situation was no different.

"_What was that thing?" _he thought. His mind went back to the weird feeling he had been having for the past few days. And now, whatever it was, it was finally here. _"Is it the Dynasty?"_ he wondered, grabbing his orb from his pocket, ready to transform into his armor.

As he neared the location of the explosion he stopped. There was a pit in the ground, caused from the explosion. It was about five feet wide and four feet deep. As Ryo cautiously neared toward the opening, he peered inside and saw what looked like a body sprawled down in the pit.

Ryo's first instinct was to jump down into the pit and save the person. As he jumped down, he carefully picked up the limp, motionless body and carried it over his shoulder. Once he made it out of the pit, he laid the body down onto the ground.

To his surprise it was a girl. She had long blonde hair shaped like "meatballs" and she wore a white and blue sailor outfit with one red bow on her chest and another on her back. Her hands were covered in white gloves, a red choker with a gold crescent moon was secured around her neck, and a golden tiara with a red jewel was adorned across her forehead. To top it all off she was wearing tall red boots.

Ryo began to check for a pulse. Pressing his fingers against her neck near her carotid artery, he could faintly feel that she was still breathing.

"She's alive," he said, staring at the unconscious girl.

But who on Earth was she? Where did she come from? Was she the one who caused the explosion? And if so, how?

So many questions circled in his brain as he stared at the mysterious girl who fell from the sky.


	3. Remember Me?

**Chapter 2- Remember Me?**

Makiyo could see Ryo coming back to her in the distance, and in his arms he was carrying something that looked too large to be a dog.

Once Ryo was a few feet away, she ran toward him.

"Ryo," she began. She looked down at the girl he carried in his arms. "What's this?" she asked.

"I found her in a pit that I think was caused by the explosion we saw," Ryo explained.

"Who is she?" Makiyo asked.

"I don't know, but we gotta get her help," Ryo said.

Makiyo looked down at her phone. "My cell phone has no service out here."

"Looks like we gotta drive to the hospital then. Come on," he told Makiyo as he carried the mysterious girl over to the boat.

* * *

><p>Roughly about an hour later, Ryo and Makiyo made it to the hospital in Mia's Jeep with the strange girl Ryo found by the lake near the forest.<p>

Ryo couldn't stop thinking about all that happened. First, the weird feelings, then the explosion, then the mysterious girl in the sailor outfit. Moreover Ryo wanted to know who on Earth she was and where was she from. If the girl was the cause of the explosion then how was it possible? How could she just fall from the sky? Did the explosion happen from another realm? Was the girl from whichever realm the explosion came from?

Ryo and Makiyo were sitting in the waiting room when a doctor arrived. Ryo quickly stood up as the doctor approached them.

"Is she all right?" Ryo asked him.

"She's in critical condition," the doctor explained. "She's still unconscious, but for the moment, we're trying to keep her breathing stable and make sure she gets enough oxygen to her brain to prevent blood clots. Do you know her?"

Ryo and Makiyo looked at each other.

"See, that's the thing doctor," Makiyo answered as she stood up. "We don't know her, or where she's from."

Ryo nodded.

"Well, it's a good thing you found her when you did," the doctor said.

"Can we see her?" Ryo asked.

"Sorry, but no visitors are allowed at this moment," the doctor said. "But I can assure you that she's in good hands."

Ryo sighed. "Okay."

The doctor walked away.

Ryo and Makiyo sat back down.

"That poor girl," Makiyo said.

"If we wouldn't have witnessed the explosion, who knows what would have happened to her," Ryo said.

Makiyo nodded in agreement.

"I need to talk to her," Ryo said.

Makiyo looked at Ryo with a look of curiosity. "Why?"

"I don't know," Ryo said. "Maybe find out where she's from, and who her family is so we can contact them."

The real reason Ryo wanted to talk to the girl was to see if she knew anything about the Dynasty and the Netherworld. If she was from another realm, was she a friend or foe? Could she be an enemy, or, a trusted ally for the Ronin Warriors?

Makiyo looked at Ryo. She reached for his hand and held it in her own. "I know that you're worried about that girl, but we should go home and get some rest. And maybe when she wakes up later, we'll ask."

"I'm staying here," Ryo said stubbornly. "I'll be fine. But you can go home if you wish."

Makiyo paused for a long moment. Then she shook her head. "No, I'm not leaving without you."

Ryo looked at her with astonishment. At first he thought of asking her why. But after looking into her eyes and seeing how strong willed and determined she was to stay with him, he knew that he couldn't tell her to leave.

"Okay," he finally said.

* * *

><p>"You're at the hospital?" Mia asked over the phone later that evening. She was sitting on the couch in the living room of her large mansion which she had inherited from her grandfather after his passing. "A strange girl in a sailor outfit?" she asked again. "No, I don't think my grandfather's research covered anything about an explosion by the lake or girls in sailor clothes, but I can look and see…<p>

"Is that Ryo?" Kento asked, entering the room.

Mia nodded.

"Where on Earth is he!?" Kento asked before Mia put a finger over her lips, motioning for Kento to be quiet.

"Makiyo's with you too?" Mia continued to ask. "Okay, well, let us know what happens if the girl wakes up. I'll tell you later what I've found. Goodbye."

Mia hung up the cell phone. By this time, Sage, Cye, and Rowen had entered the room.

"Ryo discovered something?" Sage asked, having heard the tail end of Mia's conversation.

Mia nodded. "There was a strange explosion by the lake where he and Makiyo were. Ryo discovered a girl dressed in a sailor outfit lying unconscious in a pit."

"A girl?" Cye asked. "Do you know where she's from?"

Mia shook her head. "Ryo thinks she was the one who caused the explosion. She could be from another realm, but we don't know yet. She's in the hospital in critical condition."

"Girls falling from the sky…what's this world come to?" Rowen asked.

"Well, we wouldn't be the Ronin Warriors without some kind of mystery happening," Sage said.

"I'm going to go check and see what I can find," Mia said.

"I'll help you," Sage said. "Who's gonna check the area of the explosion?"

"I'll do it," Kento said.

"I'll go with you," Cye said.

"And I'll stay here in case Ryo comes back," Rowen said.

"Sounds like a plan," Sage said.

* * *

><p><em>Ryo woke up. He was lying down somewhere in a field surrounded by beautiful flowers. A starlit sky stood before him. The stars shone so bright and were so close it was almost as if he could reach out and touch one of them…<em>

_The scenery around him was beautiful. Never had grass been greener, or flowers more fragrant than the ones that surrounded him in the field. _

_He slowly stood up and walked over toward a beautiful lake. The water looked so clear. He looked down into the water like it was a mirror, staring at his own reflection. Suddenly, Ryo noticed something behind him._

_He quickly turned around and pulled out his two katana swords from the back of his red armor that he wore. He froze._

_It was a girl wearing a long white dress, with a silver crescent moon upon her forehead. _

_Ryo slowly put his swords back as he stared at the girl before him. He was speechless. _

_The girl's eyes were sparkly blue. She stared at Ryo as her round blue eyes, bore into his._

_He took a step toward her. He felt so drawn to her, more than anything he had ever been to before._

Ryo jumped.

Makiyo's brown eyes stared back at him.

"Sorry to wake you," she said as she handed him a cup of water. "The vending machine wasn't working, so I got us some water from the cooler."

Ryo slowly sat up and took the cup of water from her. He hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep. "What time is it?" he asked.

Makiyo sighed. "After midnight," she said.

"Did she ever wake up?" Ryo eagerly asked.

Makiyo shook her head.

Ryo sighed as he set the cup of water down on the table stand beside his chair. Makiyo sat down next to him.

"This has been some day," she said.

"I'm sorry," Ryo said.

Makiyo looked at him incredulously. "Sorry for what?"

"That our time at the lake didn't go as planned," Ryo said.

Makiyo shook her head. "I'm not upset about that. I'm just glad that we're both okay, and hopefully that girl is too."

Ryo nodded. That was what he liked about Makiyo. Aside from being smart and attractive, she was very optimistic and warm hearted. She would make a good girlfriend someday, whether or not they continued to see each other.

They had only hung out four times since meeting each other two weeks ago. They had fun each time, but Ryo wasn't sure if it could lead to something more. He always had cold feet when it came to relationships. And though, Makiyo seemed like the perfect girl, he just had this feeling that there was something else. But what?

* * *

><p>Slowly opening her eyes, the mysterious blonde girl with "meatball" hair could hear beeping noises.<p>

Once they were fully open, she looked to her right where she saw a machine that had a weird, squiggly line. The beeping noise that she heard was coming from that machine.

She looked around the walls of the dimly lit room wondering where she was. She looked down at herself and saw that she was lying in bed, wearing some kind of hospital gown, with intravenous medicine flowing into her veins through her right arm.

It seemed that she was in a hospital. How she got there, she did not know, and why was she there was another question. The last thing she had remembered was a blast of orange light. She winced in pain thinking about it as she held a hand up to her head.

Suddenly, the door swung open.

"Hi, there love," said the nurse, as she came into the room, with new bed sheets, pillows, and a bed spread. A large smile spread across her face. "I see you're finally awake."

The nurse was a tall, stout woman, dressed in a white nurse's uniform. She wore a white cap on top of her head. She quickly came over to the young girl's side and grabbed her arm.

"Here, let me help you out of bed," she said.

The girl looked taken aback as the nurse quickly sat her up and pulled her out of bed. The girl slowly stood on her small feet. She had an arm wrapped around the neck of the nurse who held her up for support.

"There you go, love," the cheerful nurse said, smiling once again, as the girl finally stood up on her own. The nurse then proceeded to change the sheets on the bed.

"We were worried about you. When that boy and that girl brought you to the hospital unconscious, the doctors didn't think you'd be able to live. And now, look at you!"

The nurse stopped and looked at the girl. "Why, you are the tiniest thing ever! Don't you go breaking hearts," she teased. "I was once your size you know…"

The nurse continued to babble on and on as the girl stood there looking puzzled.

A boy and a girl had brought her to the hospital? But who were they? Maybe they could tell her what happened to her, and why she had no recollection of anything.

* * *

><p>Ryo sat up straight in his chair. It was a little bit after 7 o'clock. He stayed awake the rest of the night and now it was morning. But still, no news about the girl he had rescued.<p>

Just then, he saw a tall nurse walk down the hallway. She stopped to talk to a bunch of other nurses.

"Poor thing," she doesn't remember anything," the nurse said, sadly shaking her head.

Ryo watched them, wondering what was going on, when suddenly the doctor showed up.

Ryo stood up and walked toward him. "Is she awake?"

The doctor nodded.

"Can I see her?" he asked.

"Yes," said the doctor.

Ryo looked over at Makiyo who was sleeping in her chair. He didn't want to wake her up, so he decided to go with the doctor alone.

As he followed the doctor down the hall, the doctor began, "I must warn you though, the patient hasn't fully recovered like we expected."

Ryo was confused. "So what does that mean?" he asked.

They made it to the room. Ryo walked in behind the doctor to see the young, blonde girl with "meatball hair" sitting up in bed, eating breakfast.

When she saw them, she stopped. She looked at the doctor first. Then she looked at Ryo.

Ryo stared at her, noticing her gorgeous blue eyes. He couldn't look away from them. They were so alluring and mesmerizing. He felt like he had seen her somewhere before.

"Don't…I know you from somewhere?" Ryo asked the girl.

The girl looked at Ryo, confused.

Ryo couldn't get over the fact that she looked so familiar to him. Her heart shaped face, round blue eyes, beautiful blonde hair, albeit for the style choice, and her petite frame were engrained in his brain.

Then suddenly, it all came back to him. His dream…the starry sky, the flowers, the lake, the girl dressed in white. It was her!


	4. The Girl of His Dreams

**Chapter 3- The Girl of His Dreams**

"You're the one!" Ryo exclaimed. "You're the one from my…" he trailed off.

Ryo looked at the girl who looked back at him clueless. Something seemed off. The fact that the girl hadn't spoken a word since they walked into the room was an indication.

"She doesn't remember you," the doctor told him. "In fact, she doesn't remember anything. Plus, she can't speak, probably due to the trauma she experienced from the explosion."

Ryo's heart sank at hearing the doctor's words. He looked stunned. She couldn't possibly be the one then. The girl from his dreams could talk. He heard her call his name.

"This is the young man that saved your life," the doctor explained to the mute girl.

The girl nodded her head and looked back at Ryo.

Ryo, still in a state of shock, finally extended his hand to the girl. "I-I'm Ryo," he said.

The girl looked at Ryo's hand before slowly shaking it.

"I'm sorry, you…just…looked…so familiar," Ryo said, at a loss for words.

The girl gave Ryo a weak smile.

"I think we oughta let her finish eating, so she can gain some strength," the doctor said to Ryo. "It's been a rough couple of hours."

Ryo nodded at him. "Most certainly." He turned to the girl. "It was good seeing you," he said. He turned back around and left.

Ryo looked disappointed as he exited the room. The dreams that he had been having the past few days all came back to him when he saw her blue eyes. He thought he finally solved the piece to the puzzle and that somehow his dreams would tell him who she was. But it didn't.

The girl was a mute amnesiac. She couldn't tell him who she was much less where she was from. He couldn't believe he made an idiot of himself. She probably thought he was a lunatic yelling, "You're the one!"

"What's going to happen to her?" Ryo asked the doctor.

"Well, first, we want to run a few diagnostic tests to see if she's completely healthy. Then we'll let her go," he said.

"Let her go?" Ryo asked. "You're discharging her from the hospital today?"

"As soon as we can get finished with those tests," he replied.

"But what about her family? Does she have anywhere to go?" Ryo asked.

"As far as we know, she doesn't," the doctor said. "If no one claims her by this afternoon we'll have to turn her over to social services."

Ryo began to wonder, about what would happen to the girl. She was alone, as far as he was concerned, and had no memories of her past. Where would she go? Who would take care of her? And how would she make it on her own?

* * *

><p>Later that day, after a morning filled with several tests, the girl sat on her bed staring at the wall. She thought about the young man who came to see her that morning.<p>

"_Ryo," _she thought. That was his name. Ryo. It didn't ring a bell. She was completely clueless as to who he was.

She looked over at her bed stand. There was a locket sitting on the stand. She slowly reached for the locket and opened it. Inside was a crystal.

She stared at the crystal in amazement. Was it hers?

The door opened. The tall, stout nurse walked into the room carrying a small duffel bag. She saw the young lady with the locket.

"It was the only thing that you came with," the nurse explained. "When we removed it, those sailor clothes you had on disappeared out of thin air! Now, I've seen some crazy stuff, but nothing like that…" the nurse droned on. "But luckily, your friends brought you an extra change of clothes." She held up the duffel bag.

Friends? The girl was confused. She didn't have any friends…at least none that she knew of.

The girl set aside the locket as she took the duffel bag from the nurse and looked inside. There was a yellow sundress and a pair of flats inside.

The nurse smiled. "They said they know you from school. Isn't that awfully nice of them?"

The girl ignored her as she held up the yellow sundress inspecting it.

"I'll go get your papers, love, while you go ahead and change," the nurse told her. "The doctor said that once you sign them, you and your friends are free to leave." She left the room.

The girl held the dress up to her body. At least they knew her size.

* * *

><p>"What's taking them so long? I'm hungry." Kento said in the waiting room.<p>

"Kento, you're always hungry," Cye said holding balloons and a teddy bear.

"I hope the clothes I picked out for her fit," Mia said worriedly.

"Thanks again Mia, for allowing her to stay with us," Ryo said.

After he had taken Makiyo home later on that day, Ryo rushed to the mansion to tell Mia and the guys about the mute girl's situation. Whether she was from another realm or not, they felt that bringing the girl home with them and letting her stay with them, at least until she gained back her memories, only seemed fitting.

"Sure thing," Mia said. "I know that poor girl must feel so confused about everything."

"Imagine how confused she'll feel when she sees Kento's appetite," Rowen joked.

They all laughed, much to Kento's chagrin.

Suddenly, the nurse came around the corner with the girl. She had on the strapless, yellow sundress that Mia picked out for her, and a pair of flats. Her hair was styled the same way it had been when Ryo had rescued her.

"Is it just me, or does that girl's hair look like meatba—" Kento began.

Ryo quickly nudged him as he stared at the petite, blonde girl. The yellow dress had fit her perfectly.

"These are for you," Cye said, giving the girl the balloons and teddy bear he was carrying. "I'm Cye."

"Sage," Sage said.

"Kento." Kento waved his hand.

"I'm Rowen," Rowen said.

"I'm Mia."

"And we've already met," Ryo said. "But in case you've forgotten my name's Ryo."

The girl stared at all of them.

There was silence.

"Awwwkwaaaard," Kento mumbled.

"You'll be staying with us," Mia explained to the girl as she wrapped an arm around her. "And I'm so glad your dress fits. I picked it out for you."

The girl was glad that Mia told her that she picked out the dress and shoes and not the guys. Now that would have been awkward.


	5. Hello, Love

**Chapter 4 – Hello, Love**

"So, this is where you're gonna be sleeping," Ryo said, giving the girl a tour of the mansion while everyone waited downstairs. He was carrying the girl's stuffed teddy bear and balloons as he led her up the staircase of the mansion.

The girl followed Ryo in amazement. When Mia said she would be staying with them, she didn't expect the house would be so… big. She couldn't believe her luck. She woke up that morning in a hospital with no memories whatsoever and unable to speak. After the doctor discharged her, she had no place to go. And now she was going to be staying in a wonderful mansion outside the city with complete strangers. It almost seemed so surreal to her.

Ryo opened one of the doors in the long hallway and stepped aside, so that the she could enter into the room.

The girl entered into the room and saw that it was an ordinary bedroom with a single bed, two dressers, a bedside table and a vanity all made of cherry wood. The window in the room was covered with white curtains which matched the bedding, and a lamp and an alarm clock sat on the bedside table.

"Sorry, there's not really much in here…it's the guest bedroom which no one really uses," Ryo explained. "But you're welcome to move stuff around if you like…to make it less boring and more comfortable for you."

The girl turned around in a slow circle so she could fully examine her surroundings.

Ryo stared at the girl. It was so hard to gauge what she was thinking at that moment. Did she like the room? Did she hate it? What was going on in her mind?

After a few minutes had passed, he finally spoke again.

"I'm just gonna give you some time alone," he said. He laid the teddy bear down on the bed and released the balloons in a corner of the room. "If you need anything, just let me know. My bedroom is the next room over on your right."

The girl nodded. As he left the room, she walked toward the bed and sat down. First of all, she couldn't believe that the five guys and young woman who brought her home from the hospital would be so nice as to let her live with them. Who exactly were these people?

Second, she had to figure out what happened to her to cause her to lose her memories. All she knew so far was what she gathered from the doctor and the nurses. They told her that the young man named Ryo, and a girl he was with had rescued her after there was an explosion by the lake. And she appeared to be wearing "sailor clothes" which had disappeared after they removed the locket she was wearing.

The girl looked down at the locket she clutched in her hands. She opened the locket once more and stared at the crystal inside. It was beautiful. She must have gotten the locket from somewhere really nice. Or maybe it was a gift from someone. How else could she have owned such a thing?

* * *

><p>"Maybe she's an alien from outer space," Kento said, eating a sandwich, as he, Mia, and the guys all sat in the living room discussing the blonde girl.<p>

"But we didn't find a space ship or anything when we searched the lake," Cye said, referring to his and Kento's excursion by the explosion site yesterday after Ryo and Makiyo found the girl.

"She must have hid it somewhere. Aliens can't leave behind any evidence that there is life on other planets," Kento insisted.

"And you know this because…" Sage began.

"Don't you read comic books?" Kento asked.

"Of course you guys didn't find her space ship then," Rowen said. "Because it's invisible!"

He, Ryo, Cye, and Sage and Mia all snickered while Kento looked peeved.

"Joke all you want Rowen," Kento said, "but when her alien friends come here looking for her, don't say I didn't warn you guys."

"On a more serious note," Mia began, "Sage and I did a little digging and we didn't find anything about an explosion or about girls dressed in sailor attire."

"So, right now, we have nothing?" Ryo asked.

"Nothing," said Sage.

Ryo folded his arms. Great. They had no leads to help them figure out who the girl was, except that she was part of the explosion he and Makiyo saw, and she was dressed in a sailor uniform. It didn't help that the girl had amnesia and couldn't talk. How on Earth were they supposed to help her find her home if they couldn't?

"Well, she can't be an alien," Cye said. "She looks every bit of human to me."

"Plus, the doctors probably would have found abnormalities in her internal structure, like her brain, heart and blood cells if she was an alien," Rowen said.

"I don't think she's from the Netherworld either," Mia said. "Kayura would have warned us about her."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Kento asked. "Let her stay with us until she gets her memories back?"

"That seems like the plan," Sage said.

"But how do we—" Kento began.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of small footsteps coming from the staircase. They all looked up and saw the blonde haired girl walking down. Kento and the rest of the crew immediately grew silent as she made it to the end of the staircase and approached them.

Mia spoke up first. "Are you okay? Are you finding everything alright?" she asked.

The girl nodded.

"Here, you can have my seat," Cye said standing up as he allowed the girl to sit in his spot on the couch next to Ryo.

The girl sat down. Ryo watched as she slowly brushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. The yellow sundress really went well with her golden blonde hair, plus it added warmth to her pale, creamy colored complexion.

The girl turned her heard in Ryo's direction.

Ryo quickly, looked away. He didn't want the girl to catch him staring at her. She would have thought he was even more weird than the way he acted at the hospital.

"So, are you hungry?" Mia asked again.

The girl shook her head, but just as she did, her stomach loudly growled.

Everyone in the room chuckled, except for the girl who turned red with embarrassment.

"It's okay. You have nothing to be embarrassed about," Mia said. "I live with five guys. I've heard much worse."

"Gee, thanks Mia," Rowen said sarcastically.

Just then, Whiteblaze bounded into the room.

Startled at seeing the giant white tiger, the girl quickly jumped from her seat and backed into a corner of the room.

Whiteblaze walked toward the frightened girl, trying to sniff her when suddenly Ryo called him.

"Whiteblaze!" he said.

Whiteblaze turned in Ryo's direction, then slowly, but reluctantly, walked away from the girl.

"Good boy," Ryo said as he knelt down and rubbed the tiger's fur.

The tiger thoroughly enjoyed the rub as he licked Ryo's face.

The girl stood in a corner of the room with her eyes closed. Her left hand was balled into a fist which she had placed over her chest.

Ryo looked at how scared she was. When Whiteblaze noticed that he didn't have Ryo's full attention, he stopped licking him and turned and looked back at the girl.

"He won't bite," Ryo calmly said to the girl standing in the corner.

The girl slowly opened one eye and saw Whiteblaze sitting on the floor next to Ryo. She then opened both eyes. She was shocked and amazed at how calm and subdued the tiger was, sitting next to him.

"Come over and pet him," Ryo said.

The girl shook her head.

"He won't bite, see," Rowen said as he walked over and stroked the tiger's fur. Sage then stood up and pet the tiger, and Kento and Cye followed while Mia watched on.

The girl looked stunned as she stood in the corner watching them. She couldn't believe they had a large white tiger for a pet, and that they all surrounded him, petting and touching him as if he wouldn't attack them.

Whiteblaze lowered his head onto the ground as his eyes looked up at the girl, who stood fearful of him in the corner of the room.

Finally, the girl thought, why not? If they all weren't afraid of the tiger, then she shouldn't be either.

The girl slowly walked towards the tiger.

Whiteblaze jumped up as she approached him.

As the girl drew nearer, she stretched forth her hand to pet the tiger.

Ryo held Whiteblaze as the girl's small hand pet the top of Whiteblaze's head.

Whiteblaze raised his head and began to lick the girl's hand. She quickly drew her hand back as Ryo laughed.

"See, we told you he wouldn't bite. He's a big old softie."

Whiteblaze walked toward the girl and sniffed her. Deciding that he liked her, he jumped up and started licking the girl's face.

Ryo and everyone laughed.

Taken by surprise, the girl didn't know what to do as the tiger began licking her face. Finally, she smiled as she began to ruffle the tiger's fur.

Ryo watched as she knelt down and nuzzled Whiteblaze. He smiled at her. It wasn't everyday that a girl, or, any individual for that matter, could warm up to the idea that he had a white tiger. Most would be too scared to even pet the tiger…but the girl overcame her fear and did just that. And Whiteblaze seemed to like her right back, which was remarkable.

Then suddenly, he came to a realization.

"You know something," Ryo said. "I feel bad for not knowing your name."

The girl said nothing as she gently stroked the tiger's fur.

Suddenly, Kento had an idea. "Why don't we come up with a name for her then?"

They all looked at the girl who nodded her head with excitement.

"Rachel," Rowen said.

The girl shook her head.

"Tina," said Ryo.

The girl shook her head again.

"How about Laura?" Mia said.

"No, you guys are all wrong," Sage said. "She's definitely a Chloe."

The girl made a face.

Sage laughed. "Okay, maybe not."

"Tiffany," said Kento.

"Rapunzel," Rowen joked.

The girl shook her head at both names.

Suddenly, the girl remembered that when she was at the hospital, her nurse called her _love. _It seemed unusual to her at first as to why the woman called her that, but she liked the name. It kind of grew on her.

"How about Michelle?" Cye asked.

She shook her head.

"Nicole," Sage said.

The girl shook her head again.

"Geez, how are we going to figure out a name that she likes?" Ryo said.

"Don't worry. It couldn't be that hard to pick out a name for a girl," Kento said.

"Oh, really?" Mia folded her arms. "I would just love to figure out what other names you guys have in mind then."

Suddenly, the girls' eyes lit up. When she heard the word _love _she stood up and looked at Mia.

Mia stared at the girl in a bit of concern. "What's the matter? Was it something I said?"

The girl nodded.

"But all I said was I would just love…"

The girl nodded her head excitedly.

Everyone turned and looked at each other confused.

"Love? You want your name to be love?" Rowen finally asked.

The girl smiled and nodded again.

"See, I don't think you understand…" Kento began to the girl before Mia and the others quickly pulled him off to the side.

"Kento, if that's what she wants her name to be, then let her have what she wants," Cye told him in a low tone.

Mia and the rest of the guys agreed.

Kento sighed. "Fine." He threw up his hands.

Ryo felt a little reluctant about calling the girl Love. No doubt, it was a very unusual name. But if she liked it, then he resigned himself to liking it as well.

They all turned to face the girl who curiously watched them.

"Love is a very pretty name," Mia said to her with a smile. "And we'd love to have you in our home. Welcome to the family."

The girl smiled as they all gave her one big group hug. Suddenly, they heard a stomach growl.

Mia laughed. "Guess it's time to cook dinner."


	6. Dancing in the Moonlight

**Chapter 5 – Dancing in the Moonlight**

After everyone seated themselves at the dinner table, Love watched as they uncovered the delicious food which Mia had cooked, and began serving each other.

Love inhaled the smell of the curry rice Mia cooked, along with grilled beef, and tempura vegetables. The smell was so good, it made her mouth water.

After she had placed a good sized helping of food onto her plate, she quickly began to gulp it down.

Ryo brought up a piece of beef to his mouth with his chopsticks. He was about to eat it when he looked up and noticed that Love had almost cleaned her plate.

When she finished, she looked up and noticed that everyone, even Kento, had stopped eating and stared at her.

"Would you like seconds?" Mia asked.

Love nodded, as Mia passed the dish of beef around the table toward Love. She placed a huge chunk of beef onto her plate. She then grabbed the bowl of curry and scooped a generous amount onto her plate. She did the same with the tempura.

"Where does she put it all?" Kento whispered, watching as Love began to scarf down her food once more.

"I take it that the food at the hospital wasn't so great," Rowen said with sarcasm.

When Love had almost finished her plate, she looked up and noticed everyone watching her again. She stopped and blushed.

"No, don't mind us," Sage said.

Love was just about to continue eating when Mia cleared her throat.

"So, Love," Mia began. "I thought it would be a great idea if we went shopping tomorrow to buy you some new clothes. It will be fun."

Love nodded.

"For now, you can wear my old pajamas to sleep in for tonight," Mia continued.

"And what are we supposed to do while you two go shopping?" Kento asked as he folded his arms.

"Well, you guys are welcome to come along. I'm sure Love wouldn't mind having male company with us," Mia said.

Love nodded.

"And, we could always use a guy's opinion on what looks best," Mia said.

"Sorry, Mia, but shopping's not really my thing," Ryo said looking down at the t-shirt and jeans he wore.

"Yeah, we can tell," Kento joked.

Ryo threw a balled up napkin at him.

"Well, what about the rest of you guys?" Mia asked.

Rowen, Sage, Cye, and Kento looked around the table at each other.

"Uh…I just remembered that I have a book report," Rowen quickly said.

"I have a project that I'm working on," Sage said.

"And I have homework," Cye added.

"And I have that thing…that I need to do," Kento quickly said, as he tried to come up with an excuse.

Mia sighed. "If you guys don't want to come, you don't have to come," she said.

Ryo, Kento, Cye, Sage and Rowen all let out a sigh of relief. They knew from experience that shopping at the mall with girls could be a day-long event. Who wanted to sit there all day while they tried on clothes in the dressing room and asked your opinion on whether something made them look skinny or fat? It seemed like the worst way to spend their Sunday, even if they were at the mall.

"You can just stay here and clean up the house till Love and I come back then," Mia said.

There was silence.

Kento finally broke the silence as he cleared his throat.

"You know, on second thought, that thing I needed to do wasn't so important…" he said.

"I can do my homework later," Cye said.

"My book report's not due in weeks," Rowen said.

"Same with my project," Sage said.

Everyone looked at Ryo, as they waited for his response.

"Fine, I'll go too," Ryo muttered. Shopping was one of the things he dreaded the most, but maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he thought if it meant he didn't have to do chores.

"You guys are so predictable," Mia said with a smile, as she brought the rice up to her lips with her chopsticks and ate it.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Love sat up in bed. She was having trouble going to sleep. For one, she was living in a strange house with strangers who owned a white tiger. Second, there was still the uneasy feeling she felt about not knowing anything about her past or who she was, and being traumatized to the point that she couldn't speak.<p>

First, there was the blast of orange light she remembered before waking up in the hospital. Then there was the locket with the crystal and the missing "sailor clothes" that her nurse had told her about. But that was all she had to go on. None of it made any sense.

It all seemed scary to her…to not know what really happened to her during the explosion. She thought about Mia and the five young men. She could have easily decided to stay at the hospital, and choose not to go anywhere with them. But she went with her gut to trust them…plus, they were supposedly her "friends". Whoever they were, they seemed like genuinely good people. Maybe they could help her find out who she was.

She wondered what her real home and family was like. Did they miss her? Were they looking for her? If so, how would she be able to find them?

She threw off the covers and sat on the edge of her bed. She looked over at the window in the guest bedroom which she slept in. There was a full moon in the sky.

She stared at the pale moon that shone brightly. There was just something so calming and peaceful about it. She was entranced by its beauty. It was like looking at a bulb of bright light…the kind that shone on dancers on a stage like in a ballet. She strongly felt the urge to go out and dance in the moonlight. Become one with the moon.

* * *

><p>Ryo tossed and turned that night. For some reason he couldn't go to sleep. He should have been tired. He stayed awake almost all of last night, waiting for the strange girl, whom they now called Love, to wake up in the hospital.<p>

Ryo found himself having restless nights a lot. First, it was with the strange feeling he kept having that something was going to happen, followed by his dreams of a mysterious girl. Whether they were somehow connected he did not know.

He initially thought that it could have been the return of the Dynasty to spread darkness and evil across the city. But if so, what did his dreams have to do with it?

He wondered if the mysterious girl and the beautiful kingdom were real, and if so, would he find them one day? Who knew? For now, Ryo had to stop thinking about this dream world and dream girl, and focus on how he could protect the real world in case it was in danger from any threat.

Ryo got out of bed. He figured that maybe a glass of water would help to ease him. As he headed toward the door, Ryo stopped to look out of his bedroom window. He noticed something. An individual was walking up a little path in the backyard which led to the woods. It was too dark to make out who the individual was, but in the moonlight, Ryo could see that the person was wearing pajamas, and had two long pigtails for hair.

He recognized that it was Love, wearing the pink pajamas Mia loaned her to sleep in for the night. But what was she doing out at such a time as this?

Ryo watched as she continued to walk up the path. She finally stopped at the small hill overlooking the woods and sat down. She looked up toward the sky.

Ryo wondered what she was thinking. Trying to figure her out was so…frustrating at times. She was an enigma of sorts…a question mark. From the moment he found her lying in the pit, to the moment she came home with them and requested that she be named Love, he knew that she wasn't just any normal girl.

Who she really was he did not know, but he was determined to find out.


	7. Blast From the Past

**Chapter 6– Blast From the Past**

"So, what do you think?" Mia asked the guys the next day as she pulled back the curtain in one of the dressing rooms at a clothing boutique in the mall.

Love stepped out. She was wearing a black peplum dress with a pair of black shades, black pumps, gloves, and a large hat on top of her head.

"Trying too hard," Rowen said, shaking his head.

"It's a bit too much with the hat and the gloves," Cye said.

"I think it looks like you're wearing a disguise," Sage said.

Mia chuckled. "Okay, we missed the mark on that one." She looked at Love. "Let's try something else," she said.

She and Love went back inside of the dressing room, closing the curtain behind them. About five minutes later, they reemerged, this time with Love wearing a multi-colored polka-dotted dress.

All of the guys raised their eyebrows, with Kento being the first to speak.

"The circus called…they want their female clown costume back," he said.

The other guys nodded their heads in agreement with him.

Mia sighed. "Fine, we'll try again," she said, as she ushered Love back into the dressing room and closed the curtain.

It was Sunday afternoon. Ryo, Cye, Sage, Kento and Rowen had been at the mall for the past three hours sitting and waiting as Mia and Love tried on clothes. Needless to say they were all pretty tired and bored from the activity, and in the case of Kento, hungry.

"I'm starving," he said.

"You and me both," Sage said.

"Maybe they're about to wrap it up soon," Cye said.

"I doubt it. They've tried on like fifty outfits!" Rowen said.

"We'll give them a little more time, and then we'll leave," Ryo said.

"More time?" Kento asked. "Are you kidding me? They've had like three hours!"

"Yeah, and we're not getting any younger," Sage sarcastically added.

Ryo sighed. "Alright," he said. "We'll just tell Mia when she comes back from the dressing room that we've gotta go."

Kento, Sage, Rowen, and Cye nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, Mia emerged from the dressing room.

"Okay. Be honest. Tell me what you guys think," she said, pulling back the curtain.

"Mia, we've decided…" Ryo began.

But before Ryo could finish his sentence, Love stepped out. She was wearing a short, blue, a-line dress with shoulder straps, paired with fashionable ankle boots. The dress really brought out her blue eyes and focused on the aspects of her petite frame that made her stand out, such as her slim, toned arms and legs.

"Decided what?" Mia asked him.

"Uh…" Ryo was at a loss for words as he looked at Love. She looked really pretty. He could feel his face grow warm as Mia waited for his response. But before he could finally respond…

"Ryo!"

They all turned around in the direction from where the voice came from. It was Makiyo.

"Makiyo," Ryo said with surprise. He was not expecting to see her at all. "What are you doing here?"

"I decided to go shopping today," Makiyo said as she approached the group. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Uh…" Ryo began. "We're just hanging out at the mall," he said looking to his friends for help.

"Yeah, nothing like a little shopping trip," Cye cheerfully said.

"But I thought you hated shopping," Makiyo said to Ryo.

"I do," he said.

"Then why are you…" she trailed off as she turned her attention away from Ryo. She looked over at Mia, then at Love who stood next to her. She immediately began to size up the pretty blonde haired girl wearing the blue dress that matched her gorgeous blue eyes. Then suddenly, it dawned on Makiyo that she knew who this girl was.

"Hey, you're that girl…the one we rescued by the lake!"

Love stared at the dark haired girl. She had never seen her before. After she met Ryo in the hospital for the first time, the doctor and nurses told her she couldn't have any more visitors because they needed to run several tests after she had awoken from being unconscious.

At that moment, Ryo began to grow a little uneasy. He remembered that when he came back to the waiting room after meeting Love for the first time, Makiyo had finally awoken from her sleep. Since Love could not have any more visitors, there was no point for them to wait around at the hospital. So, Ryo had taken Makiyo home. He had never told Makiyo about his encounter with Love that morning, her condition, the fact that she was being discharged from the hospital that same day, nor his plans to take Love home, because he didn't want Makiyo to grow suspicious about his concern for the strange girl.

"Makiyo, this is Love. Love, this is Makiyo," Ryo said introducing them.

"Your name is Love?" Makiyo asked. She raised an eyebrow.

Love nodded.

"That's pretty unusual," she said.

"That's what I thought," Kento whispered to Cye.

"I'm Mia," Mia interjected as she introduced herself to Makiyo. She and the brunette had never met before either, as Ryo had never brought her over to the mansion, even though he would sometimes use Mia's jeep to go out with Makiyo.

"So, you're Mia," Makiyo said with surprise. "Ryo told me about you and how he and the guys all stay at your place. You don't look like a student at the university at all. You look so much younger!"

"Thanks, I guess," Mia said beaming from Makiyo's compliment.

Makiyo focused her attention back on Love.

"So, Love, I never knew that you were out of the hospital. When were you released?" she asked curiously.

"Yesterday," Ryo quickly answered for Love.

"And who have you been staying with?" Makiyo asked her again.

This time Sage interjected. "Ryo never told you?" he asked her with a look of confusion. "Love's staying with us."

Makiyo's eyes looked as if they were about to bulge out of their sockets. "She's staying with _all _of you?" Makiyo asked with surprise.

Everyone nodded.

Makiyo paused to think. "No," she finally replied. "Ryo never told me about it." She turned to face him. "I wonder why that is?" she asked as she folded her arms.

"Awkwaaard," Kento mumbled.

Ryo nervously scratched the back of his head. "It's a long story. We wouldn't want to waste your time. And besides, it wouldn't be fair to Love and Mia who haven't finished shopping yet."

"Actually, we're just about to finish up here…maybe you can join us for lunch?" Mia asked Makiyo. "I'm pretty hungry. I guess that's what shopping will do to you." She chuckled.

"Sure, I'd love to!" Makiyo said, happily accepting the offer.

"_Oh, great," _Ryo thought. The last thing he needed was Makiyo badgering him during lunch about why he didn't tell her about Love. Things couldn't have gone any worse.

* * *

><p>About thirty minutes later, Ryo, Makiyo, and the rest of the gang arrived at an old fashioned Japanese restaurant. They were taken to a room where they sat on the floor at a very low table.<p>

While ordering and waiting for their food, Ryo could feel that the tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. It made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

He could tell that Makiyo, who was sitting next to him, was a little upset with him for leaving her out of the loop. It was always Ryo's intention to tell Makiyo about Love…whenever the time came. Only thing is, it came much sooner than he had expected. How was he supposed to tell a girl he had been seeing that he felt sorry for this strange girl who had nowhere else to go? There was also the fact that they had no clue where Love was really from. She could have been from another realm, and Ryo couldn't risk revealing that sort of information without Makiyo knowing about the Netherworld, the Dynasty, and the fact that he, Rowen, Sage, Kento and Cye were all Ronin Warriors.

As Ryo drowned in his thoughts, their server came and brought a basket of several rolls for the group, which he placed on their table.

Not noticing anyone, Ryo reached for a roll. He became alarmed however, when his hand touched the back of another hand that was reaching in for a roll at the same time.

Ryo looked up at whom the hand belonged to. It was Love. They both quickly withdrew their hands from the basket.

Ryo's face turned red. "You go," he said.

Love slowly reached her hand back in to grab a roll. As she took one out, she looked up at Ryo who looked back at her.

Makiyo carefully watched the both of them. After Ryo finally grabbed a roll, she cleared her throat.

"So, Love, how old are you?" she asked, attempting to make small talk.

Love didn't say anything.

"She has amnesia," Ryo explained to Makiyo. "And she can't speak. The doctor said it was probably due to the trauma she experienced from the explosion."

Makiyo raised both eyebrows. "Wait a minute…so she doesn't remember anything?" she asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

"And she can't talk?"

They shook their heads again.

"That's awful," Makiyo said, placing a hand upon her chest. "I can't imagine going through something like that!"

"The reason I didn't tell you about her condition, or about her leaving the hospital and staying with us is because I didn't want you to be worried," Ryo said.

It was partly true. Makiyo was a very emotional person as was he, and she would have argued with him over taking matters into his own hands.

"Well, I am," Makiyo said. "She needs far more help than you guys can provide. What if her condition is more serious than we think? What if her family is looking for her?"

Love, who was eating her roll, wryly began to think how she just loved the way they were talking about her as if she wasn't there. She admitted though, that Makiyo did have a point though. What if they couldn't help her get her memories back? How long would she have to stay with them before she could return to her normal life?

Mia spoke up. "I know it seems kind of unusual Makiyo, but you have to trust Ryo and us when we say that we've got things all under control," she said.

"Yeah," Rowen said. "She can't speak, and she doesn't have her memories, but at this point, what she needs most is a stable environment with friends who can help her."

"And nothing's more strong and stable than us," Kento said.

"We're not perfect," Cye added, "but then again, no one is."

"Right," Sage said.

Makiyo looked across the table at everyone. She sighed. "Well, I guess it's okay then," she said. "As long as Love has no problem with it…"

Love shook her head.

Suddenly, the servers entered the room with their food.

Love ordered a miso soup with a side of steamed veggies and sushi. As they set her food down before her, Love quickly began to eat.

Makiyo was about to eat her udon noodles, but she became distracted from the sound of Love's chopsticks clinking against the china plate that her vegetables and sushi were served on.

Makiyo looked over at Love. She paused as she stared in amazement at the blonde haired girl going away at her food.

Ryo and the others looked up from their food to see Makiyo watching Love. They were pretty much used to Love's extraordinary eating habits by now, after observing her during last night's dinner. But it was still a sight to see.

"She's really hungry," Ryo awkwardly explained to Makiyo as Love continued to chow down without caring or noticing that everyone else was watching.

"I see," Makiyo said with amusement.

Love reached for the saltshaker. She sprinkled a little salt into her soup. But just as she was about to place the shaker down she had a flashback of a bright orange light blasting into her direction.

Love accidentally knocked over her bowl of soup with her elbow. She placed both hands on her head as she winced in pain.

Everyone immediately looked up from their food and looked over at Love.

Mia quickly rushed over to Love's side as the guys grabbed napkins to soak up the liquid from the soup that had spilt onto the table.

"Love, are you okay?" Mia asked.

As the pain subsided, Love let go of her head. She was shaking. She felt the impact of the blast as it came toward her. It felt so real. She finally opened her eyes and saw that all of the eyes in the room were on her.

"What happened?" Mia asked her.

Love didn't know what happened. She couldn't explain how she had a flashback. It came from nowhere. It was the same flashback of a memory she had from when she had awoken in the hospital on yesterday. But what did the flashback mean? Where did the blast of orange light come from?

"Did you remember something?" Ryo finally asked.

Love looked up at Ryo. She slowly nodded her head.

Ryo, Rowen, Cye, Sage and Kento all looked at each other. It was as if they read each other's minds.

"We should probably take her home," Sage suggested.

"I think that's a good idea," said Cye.

Mia nodded.

Ryo watched as Mia helped Love up from the low table. He had a strange feeling that the memory Love had wasn't a good one. Somehow they had to figure out a way to help piece the puzzle together as to who she was and where she was from before something more serious happened.

"Well, that was weird," Makiyo said, interrupting his thoughts as she stood next to him.

Ryo looked down at her. "Yeah," he said. He looked back up and watched as Love and Mia left the room with everyone else following closely behind. "Really weird."


	8. Therapy

**Chapter 7- Therapy**

Mia picked up a pen, a pad of paper and a clipboard, and walked over toward one of the armchairs in the study of the mansion.

She sat down facing Love, who was sitting upright on the sofa, holding a pen and pad of paper as well.

"So, let's get started," Mia said.

Love nodded.

It was the morning after the incident at the restaurant. The guys were in school, and Mia, who didn't have class at the university that morning, was left alone with Love.

Mia thought about yesterday's incident, and figured that in order for them to help Love regain her memories, they had to get her help. Now, Mia was no psychiatrist, but she had taken a couple of psychology classes in school. Plus, she figured that getting Love to express how she felt about the flashback might be the best way to help her think, or remember other memories she had perhaps forgotten.

"Yesterday, at the restaurant, you had a flashback. Is that correct?" Mia asked.

Love nodded again.

"Can you explain to me, what you saw?" Mia asked.

Love quickly began scribbling something down on her pad of paper. When she finished, she held it up and showed Mia.

Mia read the word Love had written down on the paper. "Light?" she asked.

Love nodded.

Mia was confused. "What kind of light was it?"

Love flipped over the sheet of paper to the next clean one, and wrote something else down. When she finished, she held it up and showed Mia her response.

"_Orange,"_ Mia read. "Orange?"

Love nodded again.

Mia looked dumbfounded. What on Earth could Love have seen that resembled anything close to an orange light?

"Do you mean orange as in a neon sign, or orange like a fire or something?"

Love scribbled something down and showed it to Mia.

"Bright light?" Mia asked, reading what Love had written down.

Love nodded again.

"Like an energy blast?"

Love nodded.

Mia began to think. If the only thing Love had remembered before becoming unconscious was an energy blast, then it very well might have been connected to the explosion in some way. But who was the reason for, or, what was the cause of it?

"Are you sure?" Mia asked again.

Love nodded, and then began to scribble something else down. When she finished, she held up her pad of paper to show Mia.

Mia read what Love had written. _"A powerful orange blast of light was hurled in my direction…"_ she made out of Love's messy handwriting_. "It was very bright and hot. I could feel the warmth and heat from the blast._ _It felt like I had the wind knocked out of me and I was being blown away."_

Mia paused for a moment and began to think about what Love had written down before asking a question of her own.

"Who do you think may have hurled the blast at you?"

Love shrugged her shoulders.

"Do you remember where you were when it happened?" Mia asked.

Love paused, and then after a while, she finally shook her head.

Mia sighed. Aside from learning about the blast, she felt they weren't really getting anywhere. But it was still progress from yesterday. They did not know where the incident occurred, nor any idea who the person that hurled the blast was. Mia figured that it must have been a very strong person if Love could still feel the impact from the blast that might have caused her to plummet several feet down to the ground, 'causing a big explosion and her memory loss. But the only other person she knew who was that strong and that powerful was Talpa, emperor of the Dynasty. That thought alone made her shudder. But then again, Mia wondered, how was it possible for Talpa to hurt Love from wherever she was before the explosion happened when Talpa was no longer alive? Or, at least he wasn't supposed to be.

* * *

><p>Ryo was walking home alone from school after staying late in one of his classes for extra instruction at the suggestion of his teacher.<p>

He looked down and sighed at the big, red D minus that was marked down on a pop quiz paper that his grammar teacher had given at school earlier that day.

Ryo wasn't exactly a strong student like Rowen, and grammar wasn't one of his best subjects. It was really disheartening to him that he was doing so poorly. All he knew was that he was glad school was finally over for that day, and that he could just go home, relax and not stress about it.

While walking home, Ryo noticed there was less traffic than usual for this hour. It was around the time most people would be driving or walking home from work...only there wasn't much driving or walking from anyone.

Ryo didn't think much of it though until he thought he heard something...that sounded like evil laughter.

He quickly turned around to look behind him, but no one was there.

Ryo figured he must have just been hearing things. He turned back around and continued walking. He didn't get very far though when he heard the laughter again.

Ryo whirled around, this time looking back and forth down the empty, deserted, paved road. He then darted his eyes up into the trees to see if anyone was hiding. But there was no one there.

Ryo began to think it was a bit strange that he had heard laughter twice, but didn't see anyone or anything. He then began to notice that the sky suddenly looked a bit darker. He hadn't realized that the sun was already setting at that time in early Spring.

Ryo's first instinct was to hurry up and get home as soon as possible before Mia and the guys started to worry about him. But then he heard a low voice.

_"Ryo of the Wildfire..."_

Ryo looked alarmed. No one had referred to him as that since...

_"But no, it couldn't be possible..." _he thought, searching for answers as to whom the voice belonged to.

But before Ryo could give an answer as to why the voice couldn't belong to the person whom he believed it belonged to, the voice responded to his thought, this time in a taunting manner.

_"Oh, yes, it is," _the voice said.

Suddenly a strong wind blew, stirring up dust and debris, nearly knocking Ryo over. Ryo turned back around and looked up at the darkening sky with hues of navy, red, and orange from the setting sun. Dark clouds began to form. Then a face appeared.

It was a soulless face. The face that had given Ryo nightmares. It stared back at him...with eyes as dark as the abyss, and long, ghastly white hair.

Ryo gulped. He couldn't move. His entire body was paralyzed with fear. He wanted to run, but he couldn't. It was as if both his feet were stuck in cement. His worst fears were coming true. This couldn't be happening.

_"Ryo of the Wildfire,"_ the face spoke as it's lips turned into a menacing, evil scowl. _"Give me your armor, now!"_ it bellowed.

Ryo was very afraid. But somehow he mustered enough courage to yell, "No!"

A strong gust of wind blew once more as Talpa, ruler of the evil Dynasty, for whom the face belonged to, began to cackle loudly. His long white hair whirled wildly around him.

Ryo covered his eyes with his arm to shield them from dust and debris. His hair flew around his face and his clothes blew from the wind, as he struggled to keep his balance.

Ryo looked up from his arm to take another look, when suddenly...

Ryo noticed no one was there. There was no wind and no dark clouds. The sun was beginning to set, but the sky was still relatively calm and blue.

Ryo looked around him, seeing a car drive past, and a few kids riding on bicycles.

_"It was just my imagination," _he thought. _"But it felt so real."_

Making bad grades in school suddenly seemed to be the least of Ryo's worries. He had to find a way to make sure that his nightmares wouldn't surface during the day, leading to devastating repercussions.

* * *

><p>Sage placed a newspaper with a front page headline that read,<em> Strange Phenomenon Nearly Destroys Lake, <em>down onto the coffee table.

It was after dinner that same day. While Love was in her room sleeping, they all took the liberty to meet in the living room and discuss what they had learned about the situation.

"This was in the paper today that I picked up on my way back home from school," Sage said.

Rowen picked up the newspaper, and began to study the picture of the huge ditch caused from the explosion on the front page, before reading the article.

"It was all over the news this morning too," Mia commented, sitting back in her chair.

"And in the evening," Cye added.

"It's really bad," Sage continued. "People all over town are starting to talk about it...but no one actually really knows what happened, save for a few people who heard the explosion. They think it's a comet."

"It says here," Rowen said reading, "_people in town are afraid it could be caused from an asteroid orbiting the sun, but Kimura Nanami, a registered nurse at Toyama Regional Hospital, is suspicious that it's something else. 'A young man and girl who was with him, brought in a patient who was involved in a horrible accident by the lake,' said Kimura. 'The patient had no serious injuries, but did suffer a concussion leading to memory loss. If she was not brought to the hospital by that young man and girl, the patient probably wouldn't have lived.'"_

Everyone grew quiet as they looked at Ryo.

Rowen continued, _"Law enforcement says they are on the search for anyone who may know anything about the explosion. No one knows the whereabouts of the two individuals, nor the name of the patient involved in the explosion, but Kimura and other medical staff at Toyama Regional say that they were all young, in their teens. The rescuers each had dark hair, while the patient was female, petite, with long blonde hair and blue eyes..."_

"Holy cow," Kento said in amazement. "Ryo, the cops are looking for you guys!"

"No, they're not," Ryo said dismissively.

"But it said that they're looking for anyone who has any information about the explosion!" Kento exclaimed.

"Well, it's a good thing no one remembers Ryo or Makiyo's names, or it could have been a lot more serious for us than we think," Mia said.

"Serious? How?" Cye asked.

"What if they question Ryo and Makiyo about what they saw?" Mia explained. "What if they want to know more about Love, who she is, and where she's from?"

"And she doesn't even know the answer to that," Kento said.

Sage smirked.

Mia nodded.

Ryo rolled his eyes at Kento. "Would you relax?" he said. "No one's gonna find us."

Rowen finally spoke up. "How did the session with Love this morning go?" he asked Mia.

"Terrible," Mia said. "We're not really getting anywhere. Although, she did mention something to me about a mysterious orange blast of light being hurled at her. Which explains how the explosion got started, but not really why."

"_Hurled_ at her? By whom?" Rowen curiously asked.

Mia shrugged.

The guys all looked at each other wondering who could have thrown an energy blast, or something at Love.

After a moment of silence, Mia spoke again. "I wasn't going to say anything..." she hesitated, "but maybe...it could be you-know-who."

Sage was the first to refute Mia's claim.

"But that's impossible," he said. "He'd have to be back from the dead."

Ryo didn't say anything. He remembered what happened to him on the way home from school. But despite what happened, and the nightmares, and the strange feelings he had about Talpa and the evil Dynasty realm coming back, Sage was right. Talpa was dead. He couldn't possibly be back.

"What makes you think it's him anyway?" Kento asked Mia.

Mia sighed. "Who else? Who else do we know is powerful enough to give someone a concussion and make them lose their memory from a single energy blast?"

Cye began to think. "But that doesn't sound like him," he finally said. "Talpa is, or rather was, a demonic emperor and master swordsman. Energy blasts aren't typically his means for destruction."

Ryo silently heaved a sigh of relief. What Cye said made sense. But there was one thing he still wondered about.

"How would Love even know of Talpa...or vice versa?" he finally asked.

Everyone paused.

"Maybe she's from the Ancient One's clan," Kento suggested.

Rowen shook his head. "Nah, I don't think so."

"Who else could she be?" Kento asked.

"A former dark warlordess or Talpa's servant?" Cye asked.

"Would Talpa really hurt one of his own?" Sage asked.

"I think we all know the answer to that," Mia said. "He is, after all, Talpa. He tried to destroy the Earth on several occasions. He brainwashed Kayura, and used her and the dark warlords to do his bidding. He has no soul."

Ryo paced around the room with his hands in his pockets. "But it makes no sense!" He stopped and stood in front of a window. "How could _she_ be an evil servant of Talpa's?" he asked staring through the window. "That doesn't seem like her at all."

They all nodded their heads in agreement.

"Well, let's look on the bright side," Rowen said. "We're good...at least until she gets her memories back...and tries to kill us."

* * *

><p>It was very late that night, in the wee hours of the morning. Ryo had been struggling going to sleep all night long, but it was to no avail.<p>

_"Give me your armor, now," _Ryo remembered hearing Talpa say in his hallucination, illusion, or whatever it was he had heading home from school.

Ryo shot up in bed, thinking about the sound of his voice and his evil laughter. He couldn't shake the fear he felt when he thought he saw him again.

It had been years since they fought against the emperor of the Dynasty, defeating him once and for all. So Mia's claims that it could have been Talpa who tried to hurt Love just didn't seem to make any sense. But a small part of him feared, what if she was right?

"Come on Ryo. You're sounding crazy," Ryo mumbled to himself, while holding his head. "He's not coming back. Get some sleep."

Ryo was just about to head back down to sleep when he thought he heard a noise.

"What was that?" he asked himself.

After hearing nothing for about a minute, he decided to turn down again, until he heard another noise.

This time, Ryo sat himself fully straight up. Remembering his illusion of seeing Talpa, he looked over at his night stand and grabbed his kanji orb. He was nervous. But there was only one way to know for sure if it was an intruder, or nothing important.

Ryo slid out of bed. He quietly opened the door to his bedroom and stepped into the hallway. Next, he tiptoed down the stairs, careful to not make any noise. Once he reached the end of the stairs, he heard the noise coming from the kitchen.

Ryo slowly made his way toward the kitchen. He didn't want to startle the burglar, intruder, or whomever it was, so he stood behind the wall separating the kitchen from the living room. When he felt he had finally mustered up enough courage to see who it was, he turned and look around the corner of the wall. What he saw took him by surprise.

It was Love, sitting on the floor of the kitchen, taking a huge chunk from a link of salami sausage. Surrounding her on the floor were jars of food-pickles, olives, cookies and peanut butter, as well as a carton of milk, a loaf of bread, a slice of cake, a large slice of cheese, some fruit, a box of cereal, and a huge ham.

Love reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a 2 liter soda bottle. She twisted the cap off, and immediately started gulping the soda down.

Ryo smiled. In all the stress and mix-up and confusion he had about school, the explosion and about Talpa being alive, he was glad that at least she seemed to be doing fine. Not knowing for sure if Love was their enemy or friend, and if someone else was working behind the scenes to destroy Love, Ryo took a little comfort in seeing her there at the mansion. Sure, she was a bit unusual, but maybe after staying with them for a little while longer they could finally get to the bottom of the explosion and learn why it had happened, and who she really was.


	9. Sleepless Under the Moon

**Chapter 8 - Sleepless Under the Moon**

Ryo was in his bedroom sitting at his desk, trying to write an essay for his grammar class about the one thing that had made the most impact on his life.

Normally, Ryo would have said something like, the day he first got his armor, or when he and the guys first teamed up and became Ronin Warriors, but not for this essay.

Ryo began to tap his pencil and drum his fingers on the desk. He couldn't think of anything. Finally, he decided to make up something...the day he first found his pet _cat _named Whiteblaze.

It was sort of true. Whiteblaze was a big cat...plus he couldn't necessarily say that the one thing that had made the most impact on his life was when he found his large white tiger for obvious reasons. So, he went with the former and decided to just go off on what he knew.

"Okay," he said, beginning to write. _"The one thing that has made the most impact on my life is finding my pet cat whom I call Whiteblaze."_

Ryo stopped for a moment, then continued.

_"Whiteblaze isn't your average cat. For one, he likes to eat dog food." _He paused. Then he wrote, _"He also likes to chase cars. Occasionally, he chases the mailman too. In that sense, he's more like a dog than he is a cat..."_

Ryo began to think.

_"But the major reason why I consider finding him as having made the most impact on my life," _he wrote down,"_is because he is my best friend. He cheers me up when I'm down. We go fishing, hiking, and play sports together; and lastly, when I have problems, he always listens, and our conversations never get awkward." _

Ryo stopped and re-read what he had written. He didn't like the way it sounded. It sounded to him like a bunch of thoughts jumbled together without any real organizational structure, or a main idea.

He sighed. He then balled up the paper, and began to start over. But just as he was about to write, he heard a loud noise downstairs that sounded like shouting and yelling.

Alarmed, Ryo jumped up quickly from his desk, and ran out of the room to go see what it was.

He found everyone, except Mia, who was out running errands, downstairs in the dining room, standing around the dining table. Love and Kento were seated at the table, each with a plate of hot dogs before them.

Sage, Cye, and Rowen, were shouting, cheering them on as each tried to scarf down hot dogs the fastest.

"What's going on?" Ryo asked perplexed.

"Kento and Love are having a hot dog eating contest," Cye said excitedly. "My money's on Love."

"You traitor!" Kento said, with a napkin tied around his neck. His voice was muffled due to his mouth being full of food.

"Sorry!" Cye apologized.

"Well, my bet is Kento," Sage said. "It should be more easier for him..."

"Yeah, because he can hold more," Rowen teased about the fact that Kento was a little heavier than the rest of the guys.

Kento made a fist at them both with one hand, while shoving a hot dog down his mouth with the other.

"I'm upstairs trying to write my essay for class," Ryo said. "Could you guys be a little less...loud?"

"We're sorry about that Ryo," Cye apologized. "But they're almost through...look!"

Ryo watched as Love was down to three hot dogs left on her plate, while Kento had five.

"Go Love!" Cye yelled for the underdog, who amazingly was eating her hot dogs with ease, while Kento kept pausing and taking breaks in between.

"Kento, don't give up!" Sage said. "I owe Cye five bucks if you do."

"And be ready to pay up," Cye told him with a grin.

"I'm not," Kento said in response to Sage, wincing in pain. He placed a hand upon his chest. "I think I've got heartburn." He looked over at Love who was now down to her last one.

Kento quickly picked up one of his hot dogs and took a bite. He put it back down onto the plate and placed a hand on his chest again.

"Aw, man," Sage muttered.

Love shoved the last bit of her last hot dog into her mouth as she began to chew and gulp her food down.

Kento picked up his hot dog again and tried to eat some more, but just couldn't as he put the hot dog back down again.

Love finally swallowed down the last bit of her hot dog. She then began to jump up and down beaming proudly.

"Looks like we have a winner!" Rowen proclaimed holding Love's arm up in the air.

"Sorry Sage," Kento said, leaning over, beating his chest with his fist, as he was in pain from heartburn and indigestion.

"Don't mention it," Sage said, bitterly handing over five dollars to Cye.

Ryo just shook his head. But as he turned to go back upstairs to his bedroom, he smiled.

* * *

><p>Ryo stood looking out the window in his bedroom that night. He still couldn't sleep. Still thinking about his illusion of seeing Talpa the other day, he worried whether he should tell the other guys about it, and his intuition that something evil was on the horizon.<p>

Ryo decided that he didn't want to worry them and he'd just keep it to himself. Thinking about it made him feel stressed. But he didn't want to work everyone all into a frenzy. He could have been totally wrong. But to be on the safe side, he needed to prepare.

_"I gotta get stronger," _Ryo thought. He needed to start back training. If anything was going to happen, he needed to make sure that he was ready to protect the city at any given chance.

Ryo drowned in his thoughts for a moment, until he saw something that caught his eye. It was the shadowy figure of a person moving around reflecting off the moonlight. It was Love.

She was walking to one of the sit down benches in the backyard headed toward the forest. She sat down and stared at something she was holding in her hand.

Ryo was a little curious, as he tried to see what she was holding, but there was not enough light outside to make out what it was.

It was a strange, circular object. Love opened up the object, and inside, Ryo could see a bright light shining.

_"What's that?" _he wondered. It looked like a mirror, or a jewel or something.

What was Love hiding?

* * *

><p>Love was sitting alone, outside in the middle of the night. She looked down at the locket she was holding that she had opened, and stared down at the crystal that was on the inside. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. Sometimes when she was alone, she would just stare it for a long time, but quickly hide it whenever someone else came around. She wouldn't know how to explain the locket with the crystal inside to anyone, and she doubted they would know anything about it either.<p>

The locket had a star on the front with a crescent moon in the middle, and four different colored jewels. She wondered what the crescent moon stood for.

She looked up at the sky. Ironically, she was sitting under a three quarter moon. She loved to go outside and sit under the moonlight. She couldn't explain it, but she sensed that the moon gave her peace and tranquility, and even strength.

She looked back at the front of the locket. She wondered what was the significance of the moon? She needed someone to tell her what it meant. She was tired of feeling left in the dark about who she was.

* * *

><p>"How have things been going? Have you had any more flashbacks or memories lately?" Mia asked.<p>

Love shook her head.

It was the next day. Love and Mia were sitting in the study as they usually did for their therapy sessions.

Love didn't think the therapy sessions were working, but she didn't tell Mia that. She tried with all her might to understand the flashback and why she would have been hit by an orange light, but she couldn't. Mia asking her over and over about the flashback didn't really help either.

"How are you adjusting to living at the mansion?" Mia asked. "Is everything okay?"

Love nodded. Things were fine. The guys were really nice and Mia had been very helpful. She enjoyed being at the mansion, even if they really didn't know how to help her.

"Has anything that you would deem to be unusual happened to you?" Mia asked. "For example, have you been sleeping and eating more or less? Headaches, fever, stress, or a cold or anything?"

Love shook her head, but then she thought about the locket. It was unusual that the only thing she had belonging to her once she woke up in the hospital was the locket, which she knew nothing about. She didn't know how, and whether she should tell Mia about it though.

Mia noticed that Love was deep in thought about something, and decided to question her on it.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Love snapped out of her thoughts. She smiled at Mia and shook her head.

Mia wasn't very convinced though. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Love nodded.

"Okay," Mia said, deciding not to press her any further about it as they moved on.

* * *

><p>A few days had passed. Ryo woke up early one morning. It was Saturday. He usually slept in on the weekends, but days ago he made up in his mind that he would start back training again, in case of any danger.<p>

It was about five o'clock in the morning. It was still dark outside, and everyone was still asleep. Ryo took advantage of the fact that everyone was still asleep to get up and go train. He didn't want anyone to get curious or suspicious about what he was doing and why, so he figured he'd better hurry up and get a move on before anyone else woke up.

Ryo got out of bed and put some clothes on. He saw his kanji orb that he used to transform into his armor on his bedside table, and grabbed it.

He quietly walked out of his bedroom and stepped into the hallway, tiptoeing past Love's bedroom and down the stairs where he went through the backdoor, into the backyard.

Whiteblaze, who was resting outside underneath a tree in the backyard, picked his head up at seeing his owner leave the house.

Ryo placed a finger over his lips motioning for Whiteblaze to be silent. The tiger followed him as they walked up the path leading to the forest where Ryo would train alone.

* * *

><p>Love woke up early Saturday morning around seven o'clock and began to get up and get dressed. She decided that she would go for a walk that morning. When Mia was at the university and when the guys were at school during the week, she would go walking through the wooded forest to pass the time by.<p>

When she left her bedroom, it was extremely quiet in the house, so she figured that everyone was still asleep.

Walking out the backdoor, through the backyard, and up the trail that led to the forest, Love began to think silently to herself about the situation concerning the locket. She wanted to tell Mia or someone about the locket, but she didn't know how. What if she told them and they couldn't find anything to help her learn who she was? What if the reason behind her being blasted by the orange light in the first place had something to do with the locket and the crystal that was inside? What if whomever did it, did it so they could steal her crystal?

Love started to feel worried. Maybe telling them about the locket wasn't such a good idea after all. If she lost her memories because others wanted the crystal, maybe the less people knew about was better.

Love began to walk through the forest, stepping over tree branches and rocks. She saw a flock of birds fly overhead and looked up, noticing that it wasn't very sunny outside. It looked like it would rain.

Love wondered if she should head back, thinking to herself that she had never walked this far into the forest before, because she was afraid of getting lost. But she continued until she saw a beautiful waterfall in the middle of the forest.

She stopped and looked at the waterfall in awe. It wasn't huge like Niagara Falls or anything, but it was still amazing to look at.

Love was about to walk toward it until she saw a figure standing upon the ledge above the waterfall. It was Ryo. He was practicing with two fake katana swords. Whiteblaze was not far off. He was distracted with a butterfly.

Swinging his swords around, Ryo turned toward Love's direction.

Love, afraid of Ryo seeing her, quickly hid behind a large boulder.

Ryo paused. He thought he had seen something. But figuring it was just his imagination, he continued training.

Love sighed that Ryo had turned back around. He didn't see her. The last thing she wanted him to think was that she was spying on him.

She silently watched as he continued to practice and train alone. He was shirtless, wearing nothing but a pair of pants.

Love watched how he swiftly swung the swords. He seemed to be good at what he was doing, but pretty soon, Love began to focus less on his sword technique, and more on his bare chest. She could feel her heart beat faster and her cheeks grow warm.

Suddenly, she looked down at the back of her hand where a rain drop had fallen. Another rain drop fell down onto the sleeve of her blouse. Soon, it began to lightly drizzle. Love looked up at the sky and saw that the clouds were turning dark gray.

Love didn't want to get caught in the midst of the storm, so she decided she would do her best to sneak off and head back home without Ryo noticing her.

She looked from behind the boulder again and saw that Ryo had his back turned. Love slightly stood up, and slowly began to walk back toward the woods. But she didn't know that her right foot had landed upon a small rock that went out from under her, causing her to twist her ankle and fall.

Love shrieked.

Ryo stopped, hearing the scream. He looked around to see what it was. He saw Love lying on the ground at a little distance, holding her ankle. He immediately ran toward her.

Whiteblaze saw his owner leave, and immediately stopped chasing after the butterfly and followed after him.

Love had her eyes closed, wincing in pain as Ryo and Whiteblaze approached her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Love shook her head.

"Let me see," he said.

Love let go of her hands, as Ryo inspected her ankle. He gently moved her foot, 'causing Love to hiss a little from the sting of the pain from moving her foot.

"Looks like you've sprained it," he said. "Let's get you home." He lifted Love up into his arms.

Love was a little caught off guard, but she held onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck as Whiteblaze followed them.

By that time, the rain began to drizzle a little harder. Ryo's hair, chest, and shoulders were wet, as was Love's hair and her blouse.

She looked up at him, as he carried her through the woods. He wasn't looking at her. His blue eyes were focused on carrying her home to safety.

Love was a little embarrassed to be in such close proximity to him, and even more so that he held her close to his bare chest, but she said nothing. She began to feel comforted by his strong arms holding her, as if she was delicate...like a doll.

As they neared the house, Ryo looked down at Love, whose eyes were closed, and head laid upon his shoulder. He could feel her gently breathing on him as she drifted off to sleep.


	10. A Smile that Says Everything

**Chapter 9 - A Smile that Says Everything**

_"Hey Ryo, this is Makiyo. I was just calling to see if you wanted to hang out later and maybe go to a movie or get some ice cream or something. I haven't seen or really heard from you since we were at the restaurant with everyone a few days back, and I really missed you, so...um...yeah, just give me a call back when you get this message...thanks."_

Ryo deleted the voicemail from his cell phone. Makiyo had been calling him now several times over the past few days. He felt bad for not responding to her calls, but he just had so much on his mind with school, worrying about Talpa, and of course, Love.

About two days had gone past since the day Love sprained her ankle. She was now sick with a fever from being out in the rain.

Somehow, Ryo couldn't help but to feel like it was his fault. Even though he came to her rescue, and brought her back safely, he felt had he not been so busy training, he could have been at the house keeping an eye on her. He would have prevented her from going out in the woods where she slipped on a rock, and maybe she wouldn't be injured and sick right now.

_"Shoulda, coulda, woulda," _he thought. Despite the others telling him that it was ridiculous for him to blame himself over Love hurting herself, he couldn't help but to take it very hard. Every time his friends needed help, he was always there for them. It made him very upset that this time he was too late.

* * *

><p>Love slowly opened her eyes. She was lying in her bed under the covers. Mia had taken her temperature earlier before she had fallen asleep, and she still had a fever.<p>

She looked over to her bedside table where there was a tray of soup, some crackers, and a cup of juice that Cye had brought to her. But she wasn't hungry.

Rowen wrapped her swollen ankle for her, and Kento and Sage, both took turns icing it. The only person she hadn't seen was Ryo...which made her sad.

She closed her eyes again and turned onto her side. She imagined him again...shirtless and holding her in his arms and carrying her through the woods toward the mansion. It made her blush a little. The only thing she wished that would have happened differently was that she wouldn't have sprained her ankle of course, _and_ that his blue eyes would have looked down into hers. But she fell asleep before it could have happened.

She sighed. She didn't realize that she had begun developing feelings for him until now. She began to remember how sometimes he would stare at her a lot, and then quickly look away when she caught him. And she remembered how he seemed to have a lot of fun when he hung around the other guys...but when she came around, he suddenly became very awkward...stuttering his words, running his hands through his hair, and drumming his fingers on the table. She thought it was very cute.

But where was he? If he cared about her, then why wouldn't he come see or check on her like everyone else? Sometimes guys could be so confusing.

* * *

><p>The next day, Ryo stood looking out his bedroom window, watching the sun grow dim that evening. Suddenly, he heard his door crack open.<p>

"Hey, man," said Rowen, sticking his head into Ryo's room. "I was just checking on ya. Mia's about to serve dinner in a few minutes and I thought that maybe you'd like to know so you can join us."

"Oh, thanks," Ryo said. "I'll be down in a minute."

Ryo expected Rowen to leave after that, but he didn't. Instead, he paused for a moment before asking him another question.

"She's really bugging you, isn't she?" he asked.

"Nah..." Ryo said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Makiyo's a really nice girl. It's just that the timing is kinda wrong."

"I wasn't referring to Makiyo," Rowen said. "I was talking about Love."

Ryo looked puzzled. "No...why would she be bugging me?" he asked.

"'Cause you're thinking about her," Rowen said.

This time, Ryo said nothing as he continued to wear a puzzled look.

"I know you Ryo," Rowen said. "You're beating yourself up about this. It wasn't your fault she got hurt. You didn't know she was out in the woods until you and Whiteblaze found her."

Ryo sighed. Rowen was right. He was thinking about Love, and how he couldn't save her from slipping and hurting herself. But, it was a little more than just that. He felt like he had let her down.

"I know Rowen," he said. "I'm just a little mad at myself."

"You should go see her," Rowen suggested, as he now stood half way inside the doorway to Ryo's bedroom.

Ryo shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" Rowen asked.

"'Cause Rowen," Ryo said, making his way over to his bed where he sat down, "I just don't."

"Well, I think you should," Rowen said. "You'll feel a lot better."

Ryo just shook his head, continuing to brush off Rowen's words.

Rowen gave him one last glance before he stepped out of the room and closed the door.

Ryo felt that Rowen didn't know what he was talking about. How would seeing Love, make him feel better? The image of her feverish face and wrapped ankle would just remind him how he was a failure. He couldn't face her. What if she was mad at him? What if she blamed him for not getting her home quick enough? Or worse, what if she didn't want to see him at all?

* * *

><p>"I should be happy about this," Kento said later that night after dinner, wrapping Love's swollen ankle with gauze. After all, you beat me at a hot dog eating contest..."<p>

"And we want a rematch too," Sage said jokingly. "I'll up the stakes to ten dollars this time."

"You guys lost fair and square," Cye said.

"Never! Had I not had heartburn and indigestion I could have won!" Kento protested.

Love grinned at him a little bit.

"Oh, is that funny?" he asked, as he stopped wrapping her ankle. "I challenge you to a dancing duel then. Let's see how you'll feel being at a disadvantage!"

Rowen rolled his eyes. "Just get over it," he said.

Before Kento could respond, there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Cye asked.

"It's me," a voice said.

Love and everyone looked confused.

Cye stood up from his chair, and went to go open Love's bedroom door to see who was knocking on it. He turned and opened the door to reveal that it was Ryo.

Love's eyes immediately lit up upon seeing him. She slightly raised up and sat up straighter in bed.

Everyone grew quiet.

"I...I just wanted to talk to Love...if that's okay," he said.

All of the guys looked at Love who nodded back at them to let them know she would be fine.

"It took you long enough," Rowen finally said as he stood up. He gave Ryo a smile and a playful shove on the shoulder.

All the rest of the guys stood up to leave too.

"We'll be back to check on you," Cye told Love.

"Let us know if you need anything," Sage said.

Love nodded again as all the guys, except Ryo, exited the room.

Ryo turned and watched as they closed the door behind them. Seeing that they were all alone, he turned to face Love, who stared back at him with an unreadable expression on her face. He was very nervous. He hadn't seen Love since the day she twisted her ankle in the woods...and now she probably wondered why he hadn't checked on her at all like everyone else.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Love gave a nod, to signify that she was doing fine.

"Is your ankle any better?" he asked again, seeing her wrapped ankle down on the bed.

She made a motion with her hand where she waved it up and down to signify that it felt so-so. Not very good, but not all that bad either.

"Well, I guess that's okay then. It could be a lot worse," he said, trying to look on the bright side of things.

He saw a chair that Cye had been sitting in near Love's bed.

"Do you mind?" he asked motioning toward the chair to ask if she didn't mind him taking a seat.

Love shook her head. She didn't mind at all. She was actually very pleased that Ryo was there because she wanted to see him. She missed him.

Love watched as he took a seat in the chair near the side of her bed. When he sat down, he looked up, but kind of avoided eye contact with her. She saw that he had blushed a little. She was amused.

"I'm sorry," he finally said.

Ryo watched as her expression changed to that of confusion. She didn't know what he was talking about.

"For not seeing about you after I brought you home," he finished. He watched as Love began to pause. "I didn't want you to think I was some jerk that didn't care or anything..."

Love quickly shook her head.

"You don't?" he asked her.

Love shook her head again.

Ryo felt relieved. "Well, you must know that I felt terrible about the situation the whole entire time. I felt bad for you having a hurt ankle and a fever, and I came down on myself for it..."

Love raised both her eyebrows in surprise.

"If I would have been watching you as you left, or brought you home sooner...who knows…you probably wouldn't be in this situation right now."

Love thought about what Ryo was saying. She just smiled and shook her head.

Ryo looked confused as he watched her. Was it something he said?

Love continued to smile and shake her head. She thought it was sweet that Ryo cared so much...but it wasn't his fault at all that she had gotten hurt.

"So...you're not mad at all?" Ryo asked her.

She shook her head.

"But...but it was raining, and I was busy training and..."

This time Love silently chuckled.

He stared at her in amazement.

"Wow...well, um...I'm glad we had this conversation then..."

She widely beamed at him.

Ryo smiled back.

In that moment, they were finally getting somewhere. It was a pivotal moment in their lives, since coming to know one another, where without saying anything at all, they had just expressed to each other the warm feelings that were needed to bring the start of what could perhaps turn into a potential friendship.

"Well, next time," he began, "I'll try not to be such an idiot, and not completely worry myself over hurting you...and I'll come check on you a lot sooner.

Love nodded at him.

"So...what's this I hear about Kento wanting a rematch from that hotdog eating contest you two had..." Ryo began, making an attempt to make casual conversation.

They both laughed.


End file.
